Transforming your kitchen into a bright, sunny space that makes you want to spend more time in there, is not as difficult or expensive as it might seem. Here, we give you a few ideas to get the most from your kitchen design. It’s the time to entertain whether its garden parties featuring children and bouncy castles, or adult soirees with gourmet barbeques. Both of these options mean the heart of your home needs to be guest ready, so lets get started.

To start with, display bowls, jars and plates of fresh food. Brightly coloured fruit and vegetables not only encourages you to get your five (or is it seven nowadays) a day but also immediately brightens your kitchen. Summer is the perfect time to experiment with these yummy fruit and veggies and if they’re constantly on show then that’s only going to encourage you. The same goes for fresh herbs. They smell great and bring a natural, outdoorsy element to an indoor space. Luckily, they don’t take much care either so if you don’t have great luck with plants, try these.

If you are green-fingered, however, plants and fresh flowers are an immediate summer style boost for your kitchen. Whether you are lucky enough to cut varieties from your garden or buying them from your local florist so for large, bright flowers and discuss with the florist which ones have good longevity so you don’t have to replace them sooner than necessary. Buy some funky new vases to house your purchases, as they will be wonderful focal points in the room, or brighten up a dark uninviting corner.

Next, why not consider giving the room some love in the form of redecoration. You will be shocked what an impact painting one wall in a zingy shade will have. If you don’t own your property and painting is out of the question, there are tonnes of cool wall stickers that will brighten the place up, or just get creative will your placement of a photo college or big bright canvases.

In a similar vein simply having a de-clutter of the work surfaces and shelves works wonders in creating an airier environment. If you have dark or dated cupboard doors you could even do some ‘changing rooms’ of your own and either paint them or replace them with a lighter shade. Doing this means it is significantly cheaper than ripping everything out and starting again, but also is more environmentally friendly and will feel like you have had an entirely new kitchen fitted.

Finally, the key to summer is pattern and colour in excess. Consider whether you could change any fabrics that appear in the room on chairs or cushions as well as within rugs. Throwing down a large, bright rug is a great way to inject colour quickly and also gives you a colour scheme to work with. Altering the fabrics that dress your windows, whether blinds or curtains, is also an impacting change you can make. Your new choices should be in a lighter weight fabric or lighter colour wood with (you guessed it) as much colour and prints as possible!